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African Elephant Hunting
offered by supplier M17801 (view this supplier profile)
Key Information:
Tour Duration: 1
- 10
day(s)
Group Size: 2
- 10
people
Destination:
South Africa
Category: Hunting outfitters
Specialty:
Others
Season: January - December
Min Price: 800 South Africa Rand (ZAR) per person
Max Price: 1500 South Africa Rand (ZAR) per person
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Despite their size, Elephants are worthy of their status and offer one of the most arduous challenges available today. There are no sub-species listed for record purposes although there is a difference between the savanna and forest Elephants; the latter living in the sub-tropical rain forests of central and west Africa. The Forest elephant is smaller-bodied and their lighter ivory has a orange-pink luster to it. They are very bad tempered, possibly due to living in dense forests where they cannot see very far and stampede at the slightest sign of danger.
Cites. African Elephants are listed both under Appendix I or II depending in which part of the continent they occur. At times their listing is rather confusing and is concerned more with actual commercial ivory sales (from legal culls) than with hunting trophies. Currently Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe sport hunted elephant trophies only require a Cites export permit.
Trophies from South Africa, Cameroon and Tanzania require a Cites export permit as well as a US Fish and Wildlife import permit. The recent down listing of the South African population to Appendix II may mean the elimination of the US permit.
Estimated populations in the countries where elephant hunting is permitted:
- Zimbabwe - 85,000
- Botswana - over 80,000
- Namibia - over 10,000
- South Africa - over 12,000.
Habits. Elephants once roamed the African savanna in their thousands forming vast herds which followed the seasonal migrations. Beginning in the 16th century, they were hunted commercially for their ivory. Their slaughter culminated in the 1980s when their number had been reduced almost by half. Since then, active legislation and a worldwide ivory ban has resulted in a stabilization and increase in the Elephant population.
Today the largest problem facing the Elephant is its large appetite and the shortage of habitat. They are continual feeders, resting during the heat of the day and are destructive to their habitat, often destroying hundreds of trees only to browse a few leaves off one branch.
Elephants live in herds, with a matriarch as the leader. Older bulls break away from the herd and often form small bachelor groups, with younger bulls acting as "askari" for the older males. They travel great distances in search of food but still have to drink water every day, often chasing other game away in times of drought.
Hunting tips - the hunt. Elephant hunting is done mostly on foot by following promising fresh spoor until the animal is sighted. It is then determined if the tusks are of satisfactory trophy size. Usually this type of hunting involves hours of walking only to be disappointed by a large bodied small tusked bull.
Generally older larger bulls will have younger, more alert bulls in attendance and they often raise the alarm or cause problems by always seeming to be in the way of the path to the larger bull. In most cases, an Elephant hunt is a psychological battle of endurance, patience and persistence with many blisters, sunburn and exhaustion.
The shooting part of the hunt is fairly quick, usually a brain shot is recommended at close quarters with heavy grain solids from a large bore caliber. When facing the Elephant a frontal brain shot is aimed at the third or fourth wrinkle below the center of the eyes. With a side shot, aim for the area between the eye and the ear hole. A heart shot is a better bet when it is difficult to get in close to the elephant, placed lower down, directly behind the shoulder.
Hunting tips - the caliber. The minimum is the .375 Magnum which is a legal requirement in many countries. Most hunters prefer something heavier starting from .416 or .458 Magnum upwards with heavier double rifles being the best choice.
Hunting tips - the trophy. Score is taken from the weight of both tusks and they do vary quite considerable. It is not often that a good bull carries evenly matched ivory. Usually older bulls will wear down their favorite tusk digging and stripping bark, much in the same way we are either left or right handed.
A good set of tusks must protrude from the skin flap for at least a meter, usually much more depending upon the thickness. Remember a considerable portion of the tusk is hidden in the skin and skull bone, probably at least a third. The thickest part of the tusk is usually at the lip.
Hunting tips - where. Most of the larger Elephant were hunted in the first half of the 20th century from the classic countries which held vast herds such as Kenya and Tanzania whilst in the 1980s, Ethiopia produced good, heavy ivory over 100 lbs per tusk.
Today (of the countries which allow elephant hunting) Zimbabwe, Botswana, north-east Namibia and Tanzania produce decent bulls in the classical hunting style. Botswana looks set to be the most prolific in future as the country has a huge surplus elephant population recently opened to hunting. However, today it is unlikely that 100 lb bulls exist outside of national parks and reserves. The opportunity to hunt large bulls from national parks reserves sometimes presents itself as they are sold off to game farmers to make room for new blood.
Two large Elephant bulls close to 100lbs per tusk were taken in South Africa out of the Tembe Elephant Reserve in Northern Natal. This was however a once-off exercise as the bulls were surplus to the reserve and there was a huge outcry by the "tree hugging fraternity". With this said, Elephant hunting is to take place for the first time in history in the Kruger National Park on a portion of land reclaimed by displaced communities during the Apartheid era. In the Caprivi region of Namibia a 100 pounder was taken in 1999.
Did you know? Bushmen would coat their bodies in elephant dung to get close to the animal for better arrow penetration. The Zulus believed that to die whilst hunting the King's royal ivory was the highest honor attainable.
Also see tour packages in:
Hunting outfitters
Africa
South Africa
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